4:14-15, 16-30
Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 2, Article 2, SubSection 2 436 The word "Christ" comes from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah, which means "anointed". It became the name proper to Jesus only because he accomplished perfectly the divine mission that "Christ" signifies. In effect, in Israel those consecrated to God for a mission that he gave were anointed in his name. This was the case for kings, for priests and, in rare instances, for prophets. 29 This had to be the case all the more so for the Messiah whom God would send to inaugurate his kingdom definitively. 30 It was necessary that the Messiah be anointed by the Spirit of the Lord at once as king and priest, and also as prophet. 31 Jesus fulfilled the messianic hope of Israel in his threefold office of priest, prophet and king. Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 2, Article 3, Paragraph 3, SubSection 3, Heading 4 544 The kingdom belongs to the poor and lowly, which means those who have accepted it with humble hearts. Jesus is sent to "preach good news to the poor"; 253 he declares them blessed, for "theirs is the kingdom of heaven." 254 To them - the "little ones" the Father is pleased to reveal what remains hidden from the wise and the learned. 255 Jesus shares the life of the poor, from the cradle to the cross; he experiences hunger, thirst and privation. 256 Jesus identifies himself with the poor of every kind and makes active love toward them the condition for entering his kingdom. 257 Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 3, Article 8, SubSection 1, Heading 4 695 Anointing. The symbolism of anointing with oil also signifies the Holy Spirit, 30 to the point of becoming a synonym for the Holy Spirit. In Christian initiation, anointing is the sacramental sign of Confirmation, called "chrismation" in the Churches of the East. Its full force can be grasped only in relation to the primary anointing accomplished by the Holy Spirit, that of Jesus. Christ (in Hebrew "messiah") means the one "anointed" by God's Spirit. There were several anointed ones of the Lord in the Old Covenant, pre-eminently King David. 31 But Jesus is God's Anointed in a unique way: the humanity the Son assumed was entirely anointed by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit established him as "Christ." 32 The Virgin Mary conceived Christ by the Holy Spirit who, through the angel, proclaimed him the Christ at his birth, and prompted Simeon to come to the temple to see the Christ of the Lord. 33 The Spirit filled Christ and the power of the Spirit went out from him in his acts of healing and of saving. 34 Finally, it was the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. 35 Now, fully established as "Christ" in his humanity victorious over death, Jesus pours out the Holy Spirit abundantly until "the saints" constitute - in their union with the humanity of the Son of God - that perfect man "to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ": 36 "the whole Christ," in St. Augustine's expression. Part 1, Section 2, Chapter 3, Article 8, SubSection 3, Heading 5 714 This is why Christ inaugurates the proclamation of the Good News by making his own the following passage from Isaiah: 84 The Spirit of the LORD God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD'S favor. Part 2, Section 1, Chapter 2, Article 1, SubSection 3, Heading 3 1168 Beginning with the Easter Triduum as its source of light, the new age of the Resurrection fills the whole liturgical year with its brilliance. Gradually, on either side of this source, the year is transfigured by the liturgy. It really is a "year of the Lord's favor." 42 The economy of salvation is at work within the framework of time, but since its fulfillment in the Passover of Jesus and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the culmination of history is anticipated "as a foretaste," and the kingdom of God enters into our time. Part 2, Section 2, Chapter 1, Article 2, SubSection 1 1286 In the Old Testament the prophets announced that the Spirit of the Lord would rest on the hoped-for Messiah for his saving mission. 91 The descent of the Holy Spirit on Jesus at his baptism by John was the sign that this was he who was to come, the Messiah, the Son of God. 92 He was conceived of the Holy Spirit; his whole life and his whole mission are carried out in total communion with the Holy Spirit whom the Father gives him "without measure." 93 Part 3, Section 2, Chapter 2, Article 7, SubSection 6 2443 God blesses those who come to the aid of the poor and rebukes those who turn away from them: "Give to him who begs from you, do not refuse him who would borrow from you"; "you received without pay, give without pay." 232 It is by what they have done for the poor that Jesus Christ will recognize his chosen ones. 233 When "the poor have the good news preached to them," it is the sign of Christ's presence. 234 Return